2017 Honda Ridgeline Production Underway

May 05, 2016Amy PlemonsComments Off on 2017 Honda Ridgeline Production Underway

The second-generation Honda Ridgeline is now rolling off the production line.

The automaker started building the 2017 midsize pickup this week at Honda Manufacturing in Alabama. It’s a completely redesigned pickup from the first generation. In fact, Honda pulled it off the market in 2014 and spent two years redoing it. It shares the same chassis at the new Honda Pilot SUV and unlike other pickups has a unibody construction.

The EPA just released full economy numbers, too, and they’re tops in the V6 midsize segment. The front-wheel-drive will deliver 19 mpg city, 26 mph highway for a combined 22 mpg. They’re not vastly different for the all-wheel drive. You just lose a 1 mpg in each category. Those numbers beat both the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon and Toyota Tacoma.

The 2017 Honda Ridgeline comes with an available i-VTM4 torque-vectoring AWD system. It has a 4-foot-wide flat bed space, including an In-Bed Trunk, Dual Action tailgate and the industry’s first Truck Bed Audio system. The new system uses six exciters located inside the bed walls, in place of conventional speakers, pumping out sound from the Ridgeline’s audio head unit, with up to 540 watts of power. (Honda had fun showing that feature off in its recent Super Bowl ad spot.) It also features a 8-inch Display Audio featuring Apple Car Play and Android Auto compatibility.

The Ridgeline is being built alongside the Pilot sport utility vehicle and Odyssey minivan, as well as the Acura MDX. It arrives in showrooms later this spring.